As promised soon, here's the new chapter.
A realize a... lot... happens in this, so if you have to take some time reading through it to keep things straight, go right ahead. It's somewhat of a roller coaster... enjoy~
Chapter 25 – Scent of ChangeThe next morning Airi sat on the edge of her low bed buttoning her skirt, feeling strangely flat emotionally after making the decision she had come to late the night before… and taking the first profound step in following through with it. It would soon be time to take the next, and final, step before entering into uncharted territory. However, despite her knowing it was what she had to do, the thought of it tied her stomach into knots.
As she tucked her blouse into her skirt, she heard a stir behind her. “You’re getting an early start,” Miyabi said.
“You know me,” she responded. “I’m up with the Sun.”
Despite not looking at her, she felt the girl shake her head. “No,” Miyabi contradicted. “You’re going to see her, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” she responded simply. “But I’d be up now anyway.”
She felt a now familiar finger running down her spine, and after satisfying herself with her look she turned to see Miyabi looking up at her with that intense gaze that she felt it so difficult to break, the covers pulled up against her still-bare collarbone. “Do you
have to leave so soon? Don’t worry about the clothes; I’m sure I could take care of them even quicker this time.” There was maybe a hint of an amused grin in her voice, even if it didn’t show on her face, which was just a picture of intensity.
Before Miyabi’s finger reached the lowest part of her back, she stood up stiffly to take a couple steps toward her childish pink and white, if still designer, vanity, as if to peer into its mirror. Upon seeing her own unsmiling face beneath the hair she’d let down, she looked carefully into it. She didn’t look very different, nor really feel any different. Shouldn’t she be able to see that something had changed? Perhaps she’d been right all along. Perhaps the change that really mattered had already happened.
“You’re leaving me, aren’t you,” Miyabi said in a voice as flat as she felt, little hint of a question in it. She turned to see the girl she last night gave herself to now sitting up, still holding the blanket above her chest. Miyabi was studying her closely.
“I had hoped that last night was a sign that you’d changed instead of what it was… what I had feared for a while now… but you were just letting me go, weren’t you?” Miyabi asked in a detached way.
“I’m… sorry…” she responded in a small voice.
The other girl was still peering intently into her face. “You know I’m not like Reina who’d take just anyone.” She nodded that she knew. “You know I love you.”
“I know,” she agreed quietly again.
“But you don’t love me,” Miyabi said, a simple statement of fact.
Without answering Airi looked carefully back for a minute, once again beginning to be able to feel some emotion. She walked back with a deliberate pace and sat on the edge of the bed, feeling Miyabi pull her knees up behind her beneath the covers, curling into herself as she peered reservedly at Airi.
“Miya…” Airi said, looking down into her lap. “There’s something I want you to understand. You said I was letting you go last night.” She looked up into the shadows of the other girl’s face. “That’s not true. Despite all my doubts, you’ve been amazing to me. Because of all that, and of how close I do feel to you, I wanted you to have a part of me.”
“But you don’t want to be with me.”
Airi sighed. “I
do want you with me, Miya. I need you close to me, just like I need Reina, and even Chisato or Risako, if in a different way.”
“Reina?” Miyabi asked, seeming to suddenly become agitated. “What has she done to you?”
“Nothing, nothing!” Airi said, reaching over to pat her knee quickly. “I mean…” This was harder than she thought it would be.
Miyabi’s eyes narrowed. “So I don’t mean anything more to you than them?”
Goodness… Wrong tack Airi… you’d better try something else…“You… mean… very much to me…” she said slowly and carefully.
“But…” Miyabi followed. “Not in that way,” she said flatly. After a second Airi nodded. “You’re saying you want to be just friends.” Her voice didn’t rise a whit.
Airi hesitated again before answering. “It’s more than that,” she said quietly. “I… I think of you as a sister.”
Miyabi’s eyes widened and she saw irritation flare. Her breath caught. That was not what she wanted to provoke… but she had a feeling that this might just be Miyabi’s way of dealing with things. She wouldn’t necessarily have known about it first-hand – she didn’t believe she’d really upset her before.
“A sister…” she said with her lip curled in a deeply sarcastic voice. “Do you have any
sisters, Airi? Are you in the habit of jumping into bed with them?”
“I’ve already explained to you why I did that.”
“Well then apparently you haven’t explained enough!” Miyabi shot back, her voice now definitely rising. She began leaning over her knees too in her intensity. “Tell me why someone who thinks of me as a
sister would
do something like that to me?”
“You wanted me…” Airi responded, her voice quavering.
“Yes, I wanted you,” Miyabi said, now dropping her knees so she could move her body closer to Airi, still holding the blanket tightly around her midsection. “I wanted you so badly it hurt. So as a result I took it out on those who deserved it. But then I found out, after I finally had you, that you never wanted me at all. What am I supposed to think?”
“I did want you…” Airi said tightly, trying to keep herself from shaking. “I love you Miya… I would do anything for you…”
Suddenly Miyabi was quiet, and withdrew slightly from her physical advance. Silence grew between them a moment until she spoke softly but still in that fiercely intense way Airi knew so well. “Then be with me.”
“I can’t…” Airi said, her voice now breaking, and she fixed a gaze onto Miyabi as earnest as she could possibly produce. “I don’t understand these feelings I have, but I can’t betray them either. I
love you Miya. I just can’t love you in the way you want… maybe even the way I want. There’s something inside me telling me that’s not the way it’s supposed to be. I hoped you’d eventually start to feel that way too, but when you didn’t… I would do
anything for you… but I can’t betray my heart…” She was now pulling her own knees up toward her chest as she began sobbing softly into them.
After a minute of crying, she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up, sniffing, to see Miyabi’s face. It was dry, but set with that powerful emotion she loved so much about her.
“Airi…” she said softly. Airi sniffed, but did her best to meet her eyes. “I’m sorry.” Her jaw was set, and her eyes seemed hard as stone. Airi wished she had the ability to ease what was going on in her head right at that moment.
“No…” she sobbed. “
I’m sorry…”
Miyabi shook her head. “I’ve been a fool. I became a slave to my passion, and so I ignored the feelings of those around me. I should have realized what I’ve been putting you through.”
Airi blinked through her blurred vision, her sniffing slowing. “You have nothing to apologize for,” she said insistently.
Miyabi stayed quiet, but withdrew slightly from Airi and pulled tight into herself under the covers. “Weren’t you going somewhere?” she asked after a moment. Airi nodded, now only sniffing a little. “I know this is your room, but if you want to go, I need to get up and get dressed…”
Airi nodded again sadly before rising, and without a word, wiping her eyes, she headed for the door. When she had opened it and taken a step out, she heard Miyabi call out to her. “Yes?” she responded without looking back.
“Do you love her?”
The question was simple, short, but it cut her like a knife.
“Do you love her, like you can’t love me?” the inimitable girl repeated.
Airi bowed her head slightly.
“Yes…” she breathed, and took the next step, letting the door fall shut behind her.
…
When she arrived in the small attic room, Maimi was still sleeping peacefully on the cot. She’d run into a couple of the other girls along the way – Erina and Anri she thought – but she hid her face from them and walked quickly past as they said
“Good morning”, not wanting anyone to see her tear-streaked face.
As she watched over Maimi, she did her best to wipe it dry and compose herself, because she didn’t want her former leader to see it either. The spell she’d cast ensured that Maimi would sleep through the night while she was… busy… elsewhere, but she still wasn’t sure when exactly she’d wake.
She happily sat there quietly for a good while, her face likely returning back to normal, before she heard the door click behind her and felt someone enter. She smiled at the realization of who it was.
“I can’t say I’m thrilled about you just keeping her here like this,” Reina said, standing still behind her.
“It’ll be okay,” Airi said, reaching over to brush another stray hair away from her enemy’s eye. “I’m watching over her.”
“You’re very confident. It’s a good trait in a Skull, but in this kind of situation there is very little margin for error. Even if you can contain her, they’re still likely to come for her.”
“I’ll just have to succeed before they do,” Airi responded simply, reaching to take Maimi’s hand.
“Do you really think you can sway her? That kind of thing seems to be more down Miyakko’s alley.”
“I have to succeed,” Airi responded. “And I think I’m the only one who can.”
Silence stretched on for a moment after that, and Reina stepped up to take a seat next to Airi, who glanced over at her. “I need to chew you out, you know,” she said, and the Captain blinked. “Chisa had some interesting things to say about you.”
“Oh…” Reina said, her eyes lowering as her face flushed. “That.”
“Yes that,” Airi said in a lightly scolding voice. “Do you think I’d let you get away with doing that to my best friend?”
Reina looked at her, her face a picture of innocence. “Aw c’mon Suzuki, it’s just my way of having fun with girls I find… interesting…”
Airi’s face darkened. “You’re not helping to improve my opinion.”
“But we’re Skulls!” Reina said, jabbing her thumb into her chest. “I know you are too, so don’t tell me you don’t know what we’re like.”
Airi sighed and looked back to Maimi. “Yes,” she said distantly. “I know what we’re like.” Images flashed in her head from the night before. “What we’re all like.”
“Hey…” Reina said worriedly, and Airi felt a hand on her shoulder. “Are you all right?”
Shaking herself, Airi turned a glare back into Reina’s face, which fell back almost as if slapped. “Don’t change the subject!” she said, waggling a finger in front of her eyes, making them cross. She almost wished she hadn’t done that – one of the girl’s eyes didn’t seem to be crossing quite as it should, and it made her dizzy. “I’m in the middle of scolding you! So, what are you going to do about Chisa?”
“Do about her?” Reina asked, still staring warily at the threatening finger.
“Yes,” Airi said. “She’s my friend, and something like that is very special to her, so I’m not going to let you get away with treating her just like any other girl you might have had! I’ll be watching you.”
“But—” Reina protested, but Airi poked the finger at the bridge of her nose, and the girl flinched before Airi turned back to Maimi, a small smile coming to her lips.
Neither of them spoke for a minute, though Airi could feel the girl staring cautiously at the side of her head. “I think…” Reina began, “I’ve finally realized the meaning of what you can do. As well as what I can do. I don’t fully understand it yet, but I know we’re special. And… I think you are even more so.”
Airi’s smile widened and became wistful as she watched the sleeping face of the girl she loved, however irrationally. “Nearly all the time I wish I was still just a little girl.” She reached her other hand out blindly to touch one of Reina’s. It would have been blindly, at least, if she couldn’t
feel Reina’s presence even clearer. “I’m happy I’m no longer alone though…
Sister…”She felt Reina take her hand and hold it firmly. “When it first came to me, I thought it couldn’t be, but then it all seemed to make sense.” She gave Airi a sidelong glance. “You’re still a shrimp though.”
Airi smiled wider. “I’d never dream of taking your place, senpai.”
Reina sighed. “I’m afraid that’s not the way it’s gonna be.”
“You’re right,” Airi said. “We’ll be together.”
They exchanged a glance for a long minute. “How do you guess we ever happened to meet like this?”
Airi shrugged. “I suppose it’s fate. It was a prophecy that triggered all this, remember? The red Sun…”
“Speaking of,” Reina said, waggling a finger at her. “You need to show me that trick again!”
Airi giggled. “Maybe sometime.”
“So,” Reina said. “Descendants of gods. You know, I think the Circle believes they’re the same thing, but for some reason I can’t trust it’s true about them. What if we’re no different?”
“I couldn’t say,” Airi responded, releasing Reina’s hand to stroke Maimi’s cheek again. The girl stirred slightly, still fast asleep. Her voice adopted a more serious tone. “I only do my best to do what I feel is right, wherever I may have come from.” She thought back to the dream she had as Saki attacked her mind the day before. She was to pass judgment… on the fallen… She gripped Maimi’s hand tighter.
Judgment. She didn’t like the sound of that word.
“But Airi…” Reina continued earnestly. “If you are really the daughter of the Sun… of
Amaterasu…” She cleared her throat, apparently still uncomfortable with that line of thought. She finally glanced down at Maimi too.
“I saw Miya earlier,” she said, changing subjects again. “She was in a right mood, very quiet. I tried to cheer her up, but she wouldn’t have any of it.” Airi stayed silent, stroking Maimi’s palm with her thumb. “I hope she didn’t take it too badly,” she finished quietly.
Airi swallowed as Maimi stirred again, this time seeming to start to come awake. “I hope so too,” Airi said, and she leaned down to kiss the sleeping girl.
Maimi’s numbly tired lips were unresponsive at first, but as Airi held her own there, eventually they began moving against hers, and the two shared a slow and tender kiss that Maimi likely thought was still a dream. At least, that was until she opened her eyes.
“Eeeeee~hhh!!!” she nearly screamed, almost bumping into Airi’s forehead as she pulled back quickly when the girl jerked up.
“What…. the…. HELL?!?!”“Maimi,” Airi said calmly as the girl sat up stiffly and looked wildly around at her small accommodations. Reina had somehow apparently taken the opportunity to slip out again. “Please stay calm.”
“Where the hell am I?! What did you do to me!?” Her eyes darted to Airi’s, and she spat to the side. “You…
kissed me again!” she finished, spluttering.
Airi straightened, jabbing her fists at her hips. “Now Maimi,” she said in a stern voice. “Where is the strong leader that seduced that young innocent first year into the bath last year, huh?” Maimi stared at her. “What happened to the kisses you tried to steal in there while we were even both all naked? Where’s that confidence in yourself?”
Maimi’s face flushed, but her eyes hardened. “I’ll not have you talking that way to me you little…” Airi grinned, poking Maimi in the chest before she could react. “Hey!” she protested. “Wh—”
Then Airi leaned in and stole another kiss. “Well, the tables have turned a little, but I know that resolute girl is still in there!”
“Of course I’m still in here!” Maimi roared, straightening herself on the bed. “And there are still so many things that I am going to do to your pretty little—”
Airi felt cold air pressing in on her, making her breathing slow, and she felt slightly lightheaded before she thought of the Sun that was shining brightly in through the small window, and pulled it into her. Suddenly she was not cold anymore, and Maimi was surprised when Airi was just as suddenly holding her down to the bed, having tackled her to it before she could even respond.
“Get off!!!!” she exclaimed, fighting against Airi’s hold.
“I don’t think so,” Airi said with a grin, holding her down securely. She felt all manner of subsequent attacks – more cold, heat, even something that made her nearly go blind for a second – but she stolidly bore them all as they somehow weakened before they latched a hold onto her.
Finally Maimi just stared up at her, chest heaving and eyes wide, fear blooming in them. “Do it then,” she said. “Kill me. Torture me. Whatever it is you’ve learned from those friends of yours!”
Airi leaned down and kissed her again.
“MmmgGggrraaaah!” Maimi growled until Airi pulled away. This time Maimi looked at her as if she’d never seen her before. “What are you playing at?” she hissed with a voice like acid. “Are you just following them now in becoming the biggest sl
mmmff,” she finished as Airi laid a finger to her lips.
“I just want you to listen to me,” Airi said, completely sincere. Maimi still glared at her, but Airi could tell she was paying attention. “Now,” she said, lifting her finger. Her voice quieted too. “You can’t deny it because it’s written all over your face, but you… have feelings for me, don’t you?”
Maimi rolled her head to the side, cheek against the bed, in an attempt to not meet Airi’s eyes. “I have
more than feelings for you,” she growled in a low voice. “But you chose that whore.” Her head spun back forward, and her eyes pierced Airi’s own. Airi’s breath nearly caught at the fire she saw in them. “I wanted them to go away, but they didn’t.” Her eyes suddenly changed to pleading and terrified. “Why won’t they go away? Why can’t I forget about you?”
Airi looked back at her quietly for a moment, feeling pity for the girl below her. The demon she saw in her rage wasn’t the Maimi she knew… the Maimi she fell in love with… Now all that was left of that girl was this terrified shell that appeared in her most vulnerable states. Then Airi smiled. At least she knew that girl was still in there.
Seeing Airi’s smile, Maimi’s eyes filled with anger again and narrowed. “What are you smiling about?”
In response Airi wrapped her arms around Maimi’s midsection and snuggled into her neck. She felt the girl go stiff beneath her in shock. “You…” she said. Then more seriously, “I… didn’t know what I wanted before. I didn’t know who I was. Now I know who I am, if not completely where I came from. And I know what I want…” She rose up to look Maimi in the eyes again.
“And it’s you.”Maimi looked at her as if she had sprouted horns. “What the hell?” she asked again, but in a much less harsh voice this time. “What about your little –”
Airi laid her fingers to her lips again. She shook her head. “She’s someone important to me, but she’s not who I want to be with. That is you.” She went on slowly as Maimi stared up at her in stark disbelief. “I know you felt something for me… I hope you’re right that you still do… and if you do, that you’ll take me.”
“But…” Maimi said, the walls to her heart slowly seeming to crumble. “You hate me… How could you ever love me…?”
Airi’s face saddened. “I’m sorry for what I did. I didn’t know what I was doing. Somehow I could see inside you, and that there was something dark… that was hurting you… I just wanted to get rid of it, to protect you.”
“Protect me…?” Maimi breathed. “But there’s nothing inside of me.”
“Yes there is,” Airi continued sadly. “Although I’m afraid it’s now an irremovable part of you.”
“There’s nothing inside of me!” Maimi insisted harshly, and Airi finally let her push her up and off of her. The girl jumped off the bed at the sudden freedom and ran toward the door.
Please… Airi thought. This was her last chance. She had to see…
Before she reached the door, she stopped short, and just stood there a minute before turning slowly back to Airi with fervor in her eyes. “If you truly do…
feel something… for me,” she said, eyes glistening as if striving hard not to accept something that she wouldn’t let herself believe could be true, “Then come with me. We have the opportunity to do something great – something that people will remember for ages! – and…” Her voice broke as she began to smile, apparently finally letting herself accept something she’d believed impossible. “…and with you at my side, I know we can make those who are the most powerful in the world tremble!”
Airi smiled, and rose gracefully from the bed. Maimi continued staring as if seeing her for the first time. “I’ll go with you, Maimi,” she said. “I’ll always go with you.” Excited, Maimi closed back in on her and took her hand. “But on one condition…” In their proximity, it was easy for Airi to lean in and kiss her, and this one lasted much longer and was filled with the passion they had both been aching to release for so long. When they parted, breathing heavily and holding each other close, Airi looked deeply into Maimi’s eyes and for the first time saw warmth within them.
“We go as Skulls.”
…
Laying the side of her head against her stomach as it rose and fell slowly with sleep, Ai smiled softly up toward her Nii-chan’s head.
Her Nii-chan… She liked the sound of that. Despite how tired she’d been the night before, she only slept when the two of them literally collapsed beside each other. At least she’d made sure she had company in being worn out.
She closed her eyes to feel her head rise and fall slowly with her lover’s breathing, listening to her heartbeat that was slow with her slumber. She wondered what she was dreaming right now… was it of her? She’d definitely had pleasant dreams herself involving the other girl over the course of the night.
“Ai-chan…” she heard her mumble in her sleep, and Ai opened her eyes to see her roll her head to the side, licking her lips. She grinned. It sounded like a good dream to her.
Deciding that it was time for them both to be awake, she slowly maneuvered her head and began kissing Risa’s stomach, aimlessly at first and then in circles around her belly button. She was just about to head further south until she felt the girl twitch beneath her a little bit and give a light giggle.
“Ai-chan,” she said, still in a sleepy-sounding voice – a very cute one in fact,
“Stop it…”Grinning, she continued on her way, and soon the girl’s giggles turned to gasps. After a few minutes, the two lay in each others’ arms, staring into each others’ eyes.
“I wish I could just stay like this and hold you in my arms forever,” Ai said, running a tender finger slowly down Risa’s arm.
“Then stay,” Risa said, her smile fading slightly. “Don’t go. I worry about you so much when you put on that armor and leave, and I know it’ll just be even worse now.”
Ai sighed, breaking their gaze to kiss the shoulder opposite her lightly. “They have Maimi… and Saki-chan’s at the hospital. While we enjoyed ourselves last night and this morning Maimi could be suffering unthinkable…” She choked up, unable to finish, and hid her face against Risa’s neck.
“Ai-chan…” Risa said, overflowing tenderness in her voice. “You care so much for your friends. That’s why I love you so much.” She stroked Ai’s tousled hair gently as both girls were silent for a time. “Now that…” she began again, lightly as if picking her words, “we’ve shown how close we are… I have to ask you something…”
“Anything, Nii-chan,” Ai asked. “Anything. Although I can’t promise our time left here won’t be short.”
“This… everything… that’s going on around us. I’m a bit overwhelmed, Ai-chan. Just a few weeks ago we were seventh years getting ready to graduate from Seishin, and now you’re making love to me in some dark room – however beautifully made-up – in a secret government building in downtown Tokyo?”
As the girl spoke Ai kept her position at her neck, just enjoying the feel of holding her close and her chest heaving slowly beneath her with her breath. She thought on Risa’s words, but stayed silent. She thought that perhaps she’d already accepted the changes she had begun to bring about.
“I mean…” her lover continued in a quieter voice. “You
killed someone, Ai-chan. And don’t tell me it didn’t affect you. I could tell how you were when you got back. I just hope you didn’t take me to this bed just because of what you felt because of that…”
“No…” Ai breathed, raising her face to look into Risa’s own and a finger to lay against her lips. “I took you here because I love you, and because I wanted you close to me; closer than we could have possibly been otherwise.”
Risa looked searchingly back into her eyes. “You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to be this close to you, Ai-chan,” she said slowly, then leaned in for a kiss. “That’s why I’m also so worried for you.”
Finally, looking back into those eyes of innocence and goodness, Ai realized that she couldn’t bear them, and rolled over on the bed to look away from her lover. “Ai-chan…?” Risa asked questioningly. She hated the concern in that voice; did she really deserve it from this girl?
“She wasn’t the first,” Ai said in a low voice.
“The first?” Risa asked. “Who wasn’t the first… for what?”
“The first girl I’d killed.”
Silence greeted her that time.
As it stretched on, her curiosity overwhelmed her like it did too often, and she turned back around to see Risa watching her carefully. There wasn’t accusation in her eyes – that was what was perhaps the most frustrating; after all, she’d just admitted she was more than a murderer! She was a serial killer! Instead, there was only sympathy.
“Who else?” she asked simply, no judgment at all in her voice.
“Miki…” Ai found herself saying, whether she had fully intended to or not.
Risa closed her eyes at the revelation. She knew everything that lay behind it – after all, she was her best friend. Ai wrapped her arms around her waist, hugging her tightly, unable to think of something comforting to say.
“I would never hurt you, Nii-chan…” she whispered finally, eyes welling with tears.
“I know…” the girl responded, and Ai realized that she didn’t think she could ever again be closer to someone than she was to the girl she now held so warmly in her arms.
…
“You will be leaving us again?” the commissioner general asked as he followed in Ai’s wake, Risa close at her other side. She smiled at the girl she loved. They would never be farther than side-by-side again.
“Yes,” she responded. “I need to check on Shimizu-san, and then we will find Yajima-san.”
“I assure you,” the man said, walking in a stately way ahead of his guards despite his toady position behind the two girls. “We have our best people working on locating Yajima-san. I am sure it will not be long.” Despite his confidence, he gave shifty glances to his bodyguard as he spoke. “As for Shimizu…”
“You have no idea what you’re dealing with, general. With the force they have at their disposal, your men will be destroyed before they know it.” Out of the corner of her eye she saw him give another short glance to one of his guards. “And
what is the problem?” she said, stopping suddenly. The commissioner general wasn’t fazed though, stopping smoothly behind them. Risa stood stolidly at her side.
“Ah…” he said. “There’s no problem, Takahashi-san, it’s just…”
“Yes?” she pressed, quickly losing patience.
“You see, it’s just that some of my men have been talking…”
“Talking, you say? It would seem the tongues of your men wag quite often, do they not? Shouldn’t they be more circumspect?”
“Ai-chan…” Risa said gently at her side, and squeezed her arm slightly. Ai turned her hard face toward her, but it melted immediately upon meeting her eyes.
The commissioner general glanced nervously between the two of them before continuing, “Those whom you fight. You’ve been secretive about them except for short descriptions, such that they are young girls. Hardly worth the effort, in my opinion…” He shifted his eyes dismissively.
“I’m surprised you still hold that opinion about
young girls, general,” she said warningly.
The man opened his mouth as if to correct her once again as to his title, but thought better against it. “I only say, my lady,” he said formally and with a flourish and bow, “If we had more information on the fugitives, perhaps we could better locate and fight them.”
“You will do nothing of the sort,” Ai said, turning and resuming her pace. “I don’t want any more of your men lost. How many didn’t return from the house?”
There was a slight hesitation before he answered. “Six, my lady.” He still addressed her awkwardly since he didn’t seem exactly sure what was most appropriate. “They were good men.”
“You’re lucky there weren’t more. I wouldn’t place store in such luck next time though.”
They finally reached the door to the stairs outside, but as she was about to step down he cleared his throat and spoke once again. “About Shimizu-san… We heard word from the hospital. Apparently she is up and walking around – amazing considering what they said of her injuries – and is awaiting the results of the scans.”
Ai spun back to the man in tightly held fury. “Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?” she growled at him. Thunder cracked outside loud enough to be heard in here as if to accentuate her question.
“Ai-chan…” Risa insisted again, tugging at her wrist. The man apparently didn’t yet know enough to make the connection.
“You hadn’t asked,” he responded. At that, a lightning strike shattered the doorway below with an earsplitting crack, and Risa screamed and clung to her side. The man and his retinue fell as well, holding their ears. Then his eyes darted up to Ai.
For a split second she stared at what she saw in them. Then…
“Come on!” she shouted to Risa, who was still seeming to recover, and she began pulling her down the stairs.
“Run!” The two girls leapt down the steep stairs, and just made the hole before they heard gunshots fired behind them, followed by hoarse shouts that Ai couldn’t decipher. Frantic onlookers from the street alternated between gaping at where the lightning struck and running for cover as the storm seemed to hover barely above the tops of the nearby buildings. Lightning flashed between them – and into some of them as well – as the rain began to fall heavier.
Ai pulled Risa quickly through it toward the station. “Ai-chan!” Risa cried again. “What’s going on?”
“No time!” she responded, catching her breath as she ran as fast as she could, Risa unable to keep up having no chance of matching Ai’s far superior physical strength and speed. After literally dragging her a ways, realizing that she was hurting the wrist she pulled, she lifted her fully into her arms and continued running.
The storm behind them shielding their retreat, they finally made it to the station, where they checked in and boarded the train in their soaking condition. At least they weren’t the only ones, since half the train seemed to be filled with dripping commuters.
Taking a seat, she held Risa held tightly in her lap as the girl shivered in an attempt to warm her up. She ignored the scandalized stares they received from some of the other passengers. “Ai-chan…” she said in a weak voice.
“It’s okay, Nii-chan,” she said soothingly, rubbing her arm. “We’re on our way to see Saki-chan, and then we’ll take care of things.”
“Were they shooting at us…?” the other girl asked astutely. Apparently she wasn’t completely as frantic as she’d seemed.
“I believe so,” Ai responded darkly. She would have to see to there being a
new Commissioner General when she was able to return.
They rode mostly in silence the rest of the way, Risa recovering from her chill but staying still, snuggling in Ai’s arms. After leaving the subway, they emerged once again to see that things had cleared up, to which Risa gave her a small smile. Soon they reached the hospital, and quickly found Saki’s room.
“Saki-chan!” Ai said, relief painted on her face at seeing the girl sitting calmly in a chair and hospital robe reading. “I’m so glad to see you’re better.”
Saki looked carefully into her eyes. “Something’s happened,” she stated.
Ai and Risa exchanged quick glances. “The police… they turned on us…”
Laying the book aside Saki rose quickly, but immediately swayed and held a hand to her head. Ai rushed forward to help her stand. “Are you okay…?” she asked, fear seeping back into her voice.
Saki gave a thin smile, which Ai thought was strange on the girl’s face. She wondered once again if her younger, darker friend had once led a happier life. “You see why I’m still here,” she replied, still seeming woozy.
“You should rest…” Ai said, feeling her hopes and plans for getting back at the police, and even of going after Maimi, falter at Saki’s condition. She couldn’t do this alone…
The smaller girl shook her head slowly in response as if anything faster would give her that much more pain. “I need to be up and about. If I lie down I get too sleepy… just too sleepy…” she said, staring blankly at the bed.
Ai looked back at Risa, once again worried at the girl’s health. Whatever was going on, it seemed to be affecting her much worse now. Suddenly there was a stir at the doorway, and a doctor and nurse entered, looking grim.
“Doctor!” Ai exclaimed. “Is there any news of the test results?”
The doctor looked among the three of them, Saki after a moment noticing they were there and refocusing her attention. “Would you like to have a seat?” he asked, gesturing delicately to the bed and the chairs surrounding it.
Saki wandered over to the bed and sat down, her head lowering to rest in her hands. Risa came over next to Ai, who took her hand. Walking over near Saki, they turned their attention to the doctor. “I take it you have news?”
The doctor looked between them, frowning sadly at their refusal of the chairs, and nodded at the nurse, who walked to the X-Ray mount and loaded a few sheets into it that looked like shots of inside Saki’s head.
“In initial images done upon arrival, we noticed a mass operating near the frontal lobe.” He looked meaningfully at the three girls before he went on. “In other scans we received from Utsunomiya from some weeks ago, it was detected as well, although in a much smaller capacity.”
“Get on with it, doctor,” Ai said impatiently. Saki still held her head in her hands. Risa squeezed her hand slightly. She knew this was likely going to be important, but she was also impatient since the police could at any time come after them as well.
“Well,” he said, frowning at her, “We had our guesses, but CT scans and an MRI confirmed it this morning.” He stretched an arm to one of the pictures and poked at a small dark blob near the front of the head. Ai was no expert on brain scans, so she wouldn’t have picked it out from any other number of dark areas across the whole image. “She has a tumor that is pressing against her frontal lobe. Tell me, have you noticed any hallucinations? Seizures that you’ve recognized? Perhaps odd things she’s said or done?”
Ai exchanged a glance with Risa, thinking back to the hospital at Utsunomiya, but her friend was just staring back at her with wide eyes. Then, Saki began to giggle. First it was soft, but it slowly became louder, until she raised her head, smiling fully at the doctor.
“You’re telling me this is all literally in my head?” she asked him quietly. He peered between her and the other girls questioningly, but Saki continued, “I don’t suppose I can just live with this for the rest of my life, can I?”
The doctor finally settled his gaze on her and shook his head. “No. We did a biopsy as soon as we found the results this morning while you slept. It’s already malignant. The only option is to get you into surgery as soon as possible, or else you could have weeks, perhaps even days to live.”
Saki still smiled at him. The man just told her she could die soon, and she only smiled at him. “Saki-chan…” she said slowly, afraid her mouth was hanging slightly open.
“Well I suppose we might as well do the surgery, huh?” she asked, looking up at Ai, slight sadness in her features. Ai’s heart reached out to her. If this new power… or perhaps the whole thing… was due to this tumor, what would she be like if she was facing the prospect of suddenly having it gone? Either that or dying? “What’s the likeliness of success?”
The doctor appraised her seriously again. “We have some of the best neurosurgeons in Japan on our staff. You will receive only the best care.”
“Doctor…” she said, pushing slightly.
“Fifty-fifty,” he said reluctantly, and Saki lowered her head again. “Less of completely eradicating the mass.”
The door swung open again, and Momoko stepped in. “The police have gone,” the scarred girl said, looking down at Saki.
Ai tensed up at the second dose of bad news. “They left?” she asked, slightly confused.
Momoko looked up at her with a blank face. “Yes. With no word. I told them I would report it, but they ignored me.” She looked back toward Saki again. “Is everything going to be okay?” she asked, and for the first time since the Battle at Seishin Ai thought she heard concerned emotion work its way into the girl’s voice.
Left… she thought, clutching Risa’s hand tightly at her side.
They didn’t try to attack us… Her chest clenched as she took one more misty-eyed glance at Saki.
What the hell is going on…?
Topic: The Circle of Three [CONCLUSION: 28: Ascension] (Read 99757 times)